American Decades

Important Events in Government and Politics, 1970–1979

On January 19, Federal Judge G. Harrold Carswell is nominated to the Supreme Court. Citing his weak civil rights record, the Senate will reject the nomination.
On February 18, the antiwar radicals known as the Chicago Seven are acquitted of conspiracy to incite riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
On May 4, members of the National Guard kill four students during an antiwar protest at Kent State University in Ohio.
On June 15, in Welsh v. United States the Supreme Court rules that the claim of conscientious-objector status can be argued on the basis of moral objection to war, rather than long-standing religious belief alone.
On September 22, President Nixon signs a bill authorizing a nonvoting congressional representative to the House of Representatives for the District of Columbia. No District of Columbia representative had sat in the House since 1875.

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